Dogs are domesticated by wolves. As early as the era of hunting and gathering, people have domesticated dogs as hunting assistants. So dogs are the earliest domesticated domestic animals. Dog bones have been unearthed in Cishan, Wu 'an, Hebei, Peiligang, Xinzheng, Henan, Hemudu, Yuyao, Zhejiang, which proves that it has a long history of domestication. ?

The dog-shaped scorpion unearthed from Sanlihe River in Jiaoxian County, Shandong Province is vivid and lifelike, which makes us see the morphological characteristics of domestic dogs in Neolithic Age. The dog bones unearthed from Anbanpo site in Xi 'an, Shaanxi, have small skulls, protruding frontal bones, slightly cracked teeth and curved horizontal edge of mandible, which is quite different from the present North China Wolf, indicating that the history of human domestication of dogs is indeed very early.

Second, canine ancestors

Dogs originated from wolves and have been recognized, but opinions vary around the specific place of birth and time. The earliest evidence of dog fossils comes from a mandible fossil in Germany 14000 years ago. These archaeological evidences support that dogs originated in southwest Asia or Europe. On the other hand, the characteristics of dog skeleton identification suggest that dogs may have originated from wolves, thus putting forward the origin theory of East Asian dogs.

In addition, different breeds of dogs are very diverse in morphology, which seems to be inclined to the hypothesis that dogs originated from wolves of different geographical groups. Archaeology alone can hardly provide reliable clues about the origin of dogs.

Third, the domestication process

Researchers at the University of Arizona in the United States unearthed two dog skulls at least 33,000 years ago from Belgium and Siberia, respectively, indicating that dogs have been tamed by humans as early as ancient times.

The researchers said that these two dogs have short noses and wide chins, while wild animals like wolves need long noses and narrow chins to catch their prey. On this basis, they think that this shows that our ancestors began to domesticate dogs long ago to resist danger and relieve loneliness. The researchers also believe that dogs may be the first animal domesticated by humans, which is much earlier than domestic animals.

Extended data

The origin of dogs is widely distributed. Dogs are the earliest domestic animals. At least 654.38 billion years ago, dogs became human partners. The nearest ancestor of a dog is probably a wolf. The domestication of dogs originated in America. At first, wild dogs wandered around like wolves looking for food. Some people found discarded hides, bones or meat near people's homes. Because food is easy to get, they venture to stop at people's homes to find food.

Tamed dogs can stay, while others are driven away or killed. After several years of mutually beneficial cooperation and selection, domestic dogs have been formed. Subsequently, each strain was further cultivated. The earliest domestic dog fossils found in China were unearthed at Hemudu site in Zhejiang province 7000 years ago.

References:

Baidu Encyclopedia-Dogs (Canine Mammals)